Railway-rail



FMCE..

SPARKS I). HENDERSON, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

RAILWAY-RAIL.

4.Application filed April 15,

To @ZZ ici/wm t may concern, l

Be it known that I, Spaans l). HENDER- soN, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Railway-Rails, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part thereof.

rlhis invention relates generally to railway equipment and, more particularly, to a certain new and useful improvement in railway-rails.

'lheprincipal objects of my present intention are to provide an eiiicient rail which may be manufactured and produced with facility and at reduced cost and of which the ball and base are structurally independent, whereby the rail may be conveniently handled and readily installed, the joints of the ball and base units or sections may be' staggered or non-coincident and thereby minimize wheel pounding, and the ball units or sections may be easily removed after installation, for purposes of repair, replacement, and the like, without disturbing or aifectingthe base units or sections; to provide a rail of the type described in which the ball sections are free to resiliently yield relatively to the fixed base sections under the weight of the cars and form a smooth, cushioned tread or riding surface for the cars; and to improve generally upon rails of the class mentioned.

1With the above and other objects in view, my present invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, arrangement, and combination of parts hereinafter described and afterward pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawing, Y

Figure l is a plan view of a railway rail embodying my invention:

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view ofthe rail;

lig. 3 is an enlarged transverse sectional view of the rail on approximately the line w, F ig. l;

Fig. fl is an elevational view showing fragments of two contiguous ball-sections and means for holding the same in a common plane;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged transverse Sectional view ofthe rail on approximately the line 5 5, Fig. l; and

Fig, 6 is enlarged fragmental longitu- Specicaton of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 2, 1920.

1919. serial No. 290,185.

dinal sectional view on approximately the line 6-6, Fig. 1.

Referring to the said drawing, in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views, A--A designate the base sections, which are preferably formed as integral units and of lengths and weights, or sectional dimensions, as desired; and BB designate the ball or tread sections, which are also preferably constructed as integral units and of lengths and weights or sectional dimensions proportionate with the base units or sections A.

As shown7 each base unit A comprises the base 'flanges l and 2, whose bottom faces provide a continuous, both transversely and longitudinally, plane or flat surface arranged for placement en ties or sleepers (not shown), the flanges l and 2 being formed or provided withsuitable spike-openings or recesses 3 to accommodate suitable spikes for rigidly securing the unit to such ties or sleepers. By preference, flange l, being the outside flange, has greater width than the inside flange 2, whereby the tendency to'rail canting by lateral stresses of rolling-stock is materially lessened and spike-pulling thereby largely prevented, the danger of accidents incident to or being correspondingly minimized. Arising from the base flanges l and 2 and at a right angle thereto, is a pair of spaced webs l and 5, which form an open-top channel 6, and intersecting the channel 6 at intervals longitudinally of the rail-unit, are bolt-holes 7, which preferably are Surrounded by outstanding bosses 8. fit-regular intervals longitudinally of the unit, I provide the unit with strengthening struts or braces 9 4between the flanges l forming webs a and 5, whereby the unit as a whole will be rigid and yet the sectional dimensions be relatively small, the several units or sections A being arranged end to end when installed upon the ties to form the track-way.

Each ball or tread unit B is substantially a T-shape section made up of a ball l0 and a web ll. The webs ll of the ball units B are adapted to fit in and occupy the channel 6 of the base units A and are provided therethrough with bolt-holes l2 arranged for registration with the bolt-holes 7 of the supporting` base-units, whereby theunits may be relatively secured by bolts 13 extended through the webs 4.-, 5, ll. As seen espea resulting from loose railsand 2 and the channel- Y cially in Fig. 3, the bolt-holes 7 and 12 are or greater diametrical dimensions then the securing-bolts v13 extended therethrough, whereby expansion and contraction of the units are provided `for, and whereby also there may when installed be a vertical movement of the ball-unitsV B relatively to the base-units A. Y I

In Vforming the track-way, the ball-units B are disposed also end to endwith their webs 11 occupying the channel 6 provided by the base-units A, the joints between the ball sections being preferably stag-gered relatively to the joints between the baseunits, as seen inrFigs. 1 and 2, and as shown in Fig. fr, the webs 11 of the ball-sections B are preferably provided at their ends with interloclringV tongues and recesses ld-l, whereby adjacent or contiguous ball-units areheld at their joints to the same plane andl pounding of the rolling-stock at the rail-joints obviated or minimized.

To relieve the base-units from shocks tending to disturb Vtheir installed position, and also to lessen the vibrations of the rolling-stock, l interpose a cushion 16 preterably inthe form or a strip'oi resilient material or the like, in the channel 6 ,between the base-units A and the lower edges of the webs 11 of theball-units B; and to protect the cushionk at the joints of the base-units, l provide retainers in the form preferably ot' channeled or substantially U-shaped sheet-metal bridges 17, which span such joints,- as seen in Fig,V 6.

l prefer to equip the rail with a cushion such as mentioned, but such cushion may y A be omitted and the rail be fully operative,

and for such purpose the webs l and 5 and v11 oi the rail-sections are relatively of such height that,l with the cushion omitted, the ball-units B will fit the base-units A with their webs l1v supported at their1 lower edges upon the base of the channel 6 and their ball` 10 supported at its under faces 18 upon the upperV faces 19 of the webs 4 and 5'; and. to minimize distortion by hammering H orl otherwise of the upper edges of the basei webs l and 5 when so carrying` the load, l

provide the base-units with .so-called outwardly presented lange's 2O which lengthen the faces 19 of the upper ends of the webs, and preferably the lengthened tacesol the webs l and 5 so provided are inclined Vdownwardly relatively to the horizontal to tit and coperate with the similarly inclined under faces 18 olf the ball and thereby provide or form a water-'shed 'for the channel 6 of the base units, the channel 6 being additionally provided with drain-openings or the like 21 for water or other foreign matter which may find entrance into the channel.

The sections of my new rail are ,olx a forniY and shape', as will be observed, that the). may be conveniently and readily installed, and the ball-sections easily replaced when lworn or broken or when otherwise required; and the rail as a whole provides a smooth, even tread or riding surface upon which the rolling-'stock may travel with reduced lvibrations and with little or no wheel pounding.

l am aware that changes in the form, con- "wider than the other,spaced webs rising from the flanges and providing an open- Y end channel, and web-strengthening-struts disposed between the flanges and webs, Vthe webs being flanged outwardly and thereby widened at their upper edges, a ball-section ot substantially T-shape integrally consisting of a ball and a web, the web oi" the ballsection being adapted to lit and occupy the channel of the base-section and the widened edges oi" the webs or' the base-section being adapted to receive'the under faces of and provide a broad-supporting-seat for the ball of the ball-section, the webs ot the base-section at theirsaid widened edges and the under faces of the ball of the ball-section inclining correspondingly downwardly relatively to the horizontal, and fasteningmembers adapted for projection transversely through the webs of the base and ball-sections Vfor securing the sections together.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

srainrs n. rinnnnnson. 

